Forever Drawing

The art blog of R E Wilkinson aka thedreadvampy. My past work includes album artwork for the Mechanisms and Kofi Young, as well as design for several UK NGOs. Every time I stop drawing, you get a photo of my work. Send me an ask to negotiate commission work.

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Up to my old tricks - unsolicited Robin Hobb fanart.

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Yay! All the sketch pages done!

I still need to do the cover and four painted double page spreads (the one where Izzy asks Alex to marry her, the one where Izzy is like LOL YOU SO SILLY WHY WOULD I CARE ABOUT YOUR GENDER, the one where they kiss at the altar and the one where they ride into the sunset)

BUT PROGRESS

YAY

(also I need to figure out something to draw in the pictures on Izzy’s walls. That also needs doing)

[thedreadvampy]

A friend asked about this old project and I think it has good bones. I might come back to it and rework it a bit, I think I could do a stronger writing and layout job 13 years down the line from when I sketched it out. also I would finetune the gender politics of it slightly just cause I think at the time I hadn’t really decided whether the book was about a butch-femme relationship or a straight c4t relationship. and it shows cause the text is Really Noncommittal to the point of implying that trans men are not really men.

If I do it again I would change a lot of the wording in that scene and also make the first half less heteropessimistic. but I think that there’s enough to build off.

(I also think they both need more personality. Alex could actively engage in reading and painting and playing rather than just looking at Izzy’s Signifiers Of Hobbies. and Izzy should have an idiosyncratic hobby and I’m pretty sure it should be playing bagpipes.)

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Started reworking some of this with some loose sketches

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did some 10 minute studies at the Bowes Museum

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I just got off a ferry to Orkney. I drew a bird.

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done a couple of plein air landscapes since I've been here. the second one I kinda would have rather used pencils but I left them behind when I went on my walk 🥲

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Went to Hoy today. I got absolutely DESTROYED by midges for the first one. Truly mobbed. Never stay still on the moors.

Despite taking 6 hours to walk, we were back at the jetty 50 minutes early for the ferry back so here I am wrapping up real quick as the boat approaches.

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I just got off a ferry to Orkney. I drew a bird.

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done a couple of plein air landscapes since I've been here. the second one I kinda would have rather used pencils but I left them behind when I went on my walk 🥲

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I just got off a ferry to Orkney. I drew a bird.

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Sticker designs for Pride - if you want to print them, feel free.

(the last one is just because of how hard the idea made my partner laugh)

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Been off sick today but it did give me time to finish this wee gift I made for a friend

The cover of the book is made of sheet silver and then the pages are just actual paper folios saddlestitched into predrilled holes in the spine. I'm not 100% how it will hang as an actual earring but at the very least it's a lovely little object to hold.

[thedreadvampy]

My friend is having a homemade ornament exchange party this week and I got a bit carried away. LOOK at this little guy 😍

(process under cut)

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This went to the wrong blog AND all the photos got jumbled up but I think it's fixed now

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Today @lifetheuniverseandnothing and I have been testing out our ability to do at-home screenprinting, which: surprisingly easy once you get over the startup cost. We haven't got the exposure times perfect yet, but third time will be the charm, cause:

Screen 1: overexposed by about 2 minutes

Screen 2: underexposed by about 1 minute on the corners of the screen furthest from the UV lamp

so screen 3 will be in the Goldilocks zone for sure. we are looking at 9 minutes and moving the lamp slightly halfway through.

also shoutout to the Kofi Assam fan whose absolutely delightful Be Gay Do Crime design I copied/stole for this cause Sam and I both agreed we wanted t-shirts of it. I think it was @crustysteambird's work? it's one of my favourite things Sam's got up in his room it's so cute.

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Someone's started a gay newsletter in my city and I think this is too big a piece to have submitted half an hour before the deadline but I did finish it so 😤👍

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Someone's started a gay newsletter in my city and I think this is too big a piece to have submitted half an hour before the deadline but I did finish it so 😤👍

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Birthday card for one of my best friends from school. I liked the idea of being able to see the inside of the card through the badger hole, but I can't decide if I like it.

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wip. it has been a long time since I painted anything other than studies and even longer since I painted something purely off my own back.

also I could not find a reference of the exact angle I wanted so I had to put my boots on and go into town even though I was so so so tired, I suffer for my art 😭 (the light was also very flat today, so I'm doing some underpainting to figure out the shadows for a more golden-hour light)

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art time

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a niche but useful t-shirt design I'm working on with some pals

plus shitty wee mockup for design reference

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working on mimicking Tom of Finland (with medium success) for a gift to a friend

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Oh I didn't post the final of this!